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By JULIA JACOBO, ABC News
(NASHVILLE, Tenn.) The license of a Nashville, Tennessee attorney has been suspended for four years after he posted advice on how to get away with murder.
The advice was given in 2017 in response to a post by a Facebook friend who described a “tumultuous” breakup with her child’s father and inquired about the legality of carrying a gun in her car, according to court documents filed in the Supreme Court of Tennessee on Friday.
Attorney Winston Bradshaw Sitton reportedly wrote that if the woman wanted to kill her ex-boyfriend, she should “lure” him into her home and “claim” he broke in with intent to do her harm and she feared for her life, according to the Tennessee Supreme Court judgment.
State Supreme Court Chides Attorney Who Put On Facebook How To Kill Someone And Get Away With It Friday, January 22, 2021 In a case it called a “cautionary tale,” the Tennessee Supreme Court held for the first time on Friday that lawyers who make unethical statements may receive harsher discipline if they choose to post the statements publicly on social media. In this case, a Nashville attorney posted comments on Facebook with instructions on how to shoot someone and avoid criminal conviction by making it look like self-defense.
Winston B. Sitton had a Facebook page that identified him as a lawyer. For about a year, Mr. Sitton was a “Facebook friend” of Lauren Houston but had never met her in person. Through Facebook, Mr. Sitton learned that Ms. Houston was going through a difficult breakup with Jason Henderson, the father of her child, and that she was concerned about abuse or harassment by Mr. Henderson.